Garff MHK Daphne Caine has voiced her concerns about how a government-funded school has been promoting itself to parents.

Mrs Caine highlighted a Facebook post made by Douglas-based St Thomas’s Church of England School, where it advertised its opening for the 2021 reception class: ’Would you like a small, nurturing, friendly school where all the teachers know the children and where class sizes are small? Please consider St Thomas’s CE School.

’We have small class sizes, a nurturing environment and Christian ethos.’

’Christians of all denominations are welcome, as are non-Christians who favour a calm, nurturing school based on Christian values.’

Mrs Caine said that she was ’very surprised’ at how St Thomas’s was promoting itself to attract more children by ’highlighting its small class sizes like the Buchan’, whilst having the advantage of a Douglas location and all-island catchment.

She told the Manx Independent: ’I feel it is totally inappropriate that an entirely state-funded school markets itself as somehow superior to other schools, including the one it shares a site with (Scoill Vallajeelt primary school).

’Promoting small class sizes and an all-island catchment - now without the need to be a practising Christian - is very odd when all our schools are taxpayer funded.’

’Perhaps with the imminent education bill we could take the opportunity to consider whether all state education should be secular in future, especially given St Mary’s and St Thomas’s are "church" schools but don’t receive any regular funding from their respective churches.’

She concluded: ’My concern is that it could lead to regular competitive marketing by church schools which have no catchment restrictions and a Douglas location.

’Also, St Thomas’s is implying it is superior to other schools so another concern is that their ethos spills over into the school culture and promotes Christian values as somehow superior to other faiths or value systems.’

St Thomas’s headteacher Clare Manser said that as a non-catchment area school, such advertising was one of the only ways to attract parents to the school, other than word of mouth.

She added: ’I wasn’t trying to say that other schools are not as good, just trying to get the word out there for September (the new reception class) because that’s the only way.

’It wasn’t my intention to say that other schools weren’t as good, or to take parents away from other schools - I think all schools on the island are valuable, and have their own unique ethos.

’We were simply giving parents that want the Christian church school ethos the choice to send their children here, if they would like to.’